What's next for women's soccer? The suspension of the WUSA was a blow to pro soccer, but its effects are being felt throughout the amateur and youth ranks as well - Women's United Soccer Association

Soccer Digest, Dec, 2003 by Rick Woelfel

LONG BEFORE THERE WAS A WUSA, Michelle Biehl thought about what it would be like to play soccer for a living. After all, she can scarcely remember a time when she wasn't kicking a soccer ball. Soccer has always been her passion.

When the WUSA was launched in 2001, Biehl thought she was on the verge of living her dream. Then, in mid-September, that dream came crashing down around her.

This fall, as a fourth-year junior at Villanova, Biehl was one of the country's top defenders. She planned to give the WUSA a shot after college--until she got a phone call telling her the league was no more. "My mother called me," says Biehl still in disbelief. "I was very shocked. I had no idea that they were in trouble. It was very disappointing. It was a goal I had set when I was younger, to play after college."

When the WUSA suspended operations, about 130 professional players found themselves unemployed. But the ripple effect of the shutdown touched players at all levels of soccer. The list includes college players such as Biehl and high school athletes who were just starting to think about someday making a living playing soccer. It also includes the young girls who treasure their Mia Harem autographs and go to sleep in their No. 9 jerseys, dreaming of soccer stardom.

Now that the WUSA is gone, some of those players may have to cling to other dreams. Because she was redshirted in her freshman season due to a knee injury, Biehl has a year of NCAA eligibility, but she will graduate on time and could have found herself on a WUSA roster in 2004. Now she's planning on using her fifth year of eligibility to go to graduate school and plan for her wedding. There may be soccer in her future--perhaps in the W-League or with a high-level amateur team--about Michelle Biehl is starting to think about life after soccer.

Breann Daley doesn't have to think about that just yet. Daley is a striker at Archbishop Wood near Philadelphia, the same high school that produced Biehl and former Penn State All-American keeper Emily Oleksiuk, who spent a year as a backup with the WUSA's Carolina Courage.

Unlike Biehl, Daley, a senior, hasn't focused exclusively on soccer. She starts for her high school's basketball team and has been getting looks from some schools who see her on the hardwood instead of a soccer pitch. Ask Daley which sport she prefers and the answer you get will likely depend on the temperature outside and the time of year. Ever optimistic, Daley is hoping that the WUSA will somehow be revived. "I've always seen it as an opportunity," she says. "I haven't given up on it yet. Maybe it will come back by the time I'm finished with college. I'll keep the idea in the back of my head."

Daley is somewhat unique: She is a high school senior who has yet to focus her energy on one sport. "My parents always said, 'As long as you can do both, do as much as you can," she says. "I love doing both, I would never want to choose one over the other."

Daley is the exception, not the rule. Most young athletes--particularly those with aspirations of competing at the collegiate level--begin specializing around the time they enter high school, if not earlier.

Which begs the question: With no high-level domestic professional league to aspire to, will today's teenage athletes drop soccer in favor of basketball, tennis, or golf?. "For me personally, it wouldn't change my focus any," says Daley. "But I can see it for other people. If they wanted to go on to the next level after college they would definitely pick basketball instead of soccer."

Dana Gavaghan takes a slightly different view. Gavaghan was a high school star before playing Division I soccer at LaSalle. Today she coaches the girls' team at Bishop McDevitt High near Philadelphia and still plays high-level amateur soccer. At age 24, she's as fit as many of the players whom she coaches.

Gavaghan feels that women's soccer doesn't necessarily need a professional league to attract young players, and she points to other women's sports where no viable professional options are available.

"Lacrosse is still played," she points out. "Field hockey is as well, and those sports are very competitive even though they have no professional leagues. If an athlete is in high school, they still have an incentive to go to college. And playing in college is highly competitive, it can help pay for tuition, and those players can still participate after graduation because there are leagues all over the place. There are semipro leagues and major leagues. Just because there is no professional league, I don't think that should turn anybody away from soccer."

But with the demise of the WUSA, the only financially viable women's sports league in America is the WNBA. Gavaghan concedes that young athletes with an eye on a future in sports may choose basketball over soccer as long as the WNBA can stay afloat. "Basketball is always going to bring the money in," she says. "If you're a good basketball player then by high school you usually have to give that all of your attention and focus."